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CompactFanny posted:I would separate them again. Fix the doors, or just close them and put a doorstop or something heavy to keep it closed. I would put new cat away somewhere and let old cat get his confidence back. When he's back to roaming freely, switch them out. It sounds like you did everything right, but the door issue rushed things a little. Finally settled on putting new cat in my bedroom last night, since it's the only door that halfway closes. Keeping a washcloth wedged in there so she can't open the door by pulling at the gap, like she does. I'm slowly moving old!cat's food dish so he'll start going into areas he wasn't going into. Seems to be working. But new!kitty is yelping like a wounded peacock and scratching at my door  I'm having to shoo her away from the door crack whenever I go into my bedroom, since by now she's used to having the run of the house. She's slipped out once already and chased old!cat halfway across the living room. I have been trying to feed them at the same time with the door firmly between them to get them associating good things with each others' smells, but old!cat wouldn't come near the door yesterday. I'm really hoping that he'll gain his confidence enough to eat in front of my bedroom door in a day or two. At least I figured out how to get him to go in his own litterbox--he pissed on the (hardwood) floor, and I wiped it up with a paper towel and stuck the dirty paper towel in his litterbox so it'd smell like him strongly enough to override any associations he had with her bullying him in it. At this point I don't care if they get along as long as they can share territory, go in their own litterboxes, and don't have screaming fights when they come within six feet of each other without me having to drop $30 for a pheremone spray every month.
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Aug 4, 2014 18:45
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I had a question about cats who have been declawed: My friend works at a kennel and received a cat the owner could no longer care for. The cat is about six years old and has been declawed in the front. I know it's a recommendation to have another cat around, but I'm worried that getting a cat that hasn't been declawed would cause issues, and I'm not going to have a cat declawed myself. Would it be worth it for me to find another declawed cat, or are there some other steps I could take to help the two get along?
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Aug 5, 2014 00:38
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If the cats really want to hurt each other, claws or no claws won't matter as much. If it's just typical dominance scuffling and smacking it won't make much of a difference. You just want to watch in case the fighting gets Serious, like drawing blood, but really you'd want to break those up anyway. Of my two cats, Ozma is declawed and Pizza is not. Their squabbles and dominance bullying seem no different to me than any other cat pair I've seen. They haven't hurt each other and their introduction was as smooth as it could be (they are currently besties) Basically, treat it like you would any other cat introduction. I wouldn't worry as long as you are careful to pick an appropriately aged/tempered match. Rat Patrol fucked around with this message at 01:27 on Aug 5, 2014 |
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Aug 5, 2014 01:25
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Aleph Null posted:My wife has asthma. We are trying Yesterday's News kitty litter because it is supposed to be nearly dust-free. http://www.yesterdaysnews.com/Using/SeeHowItWorks.aspx There are clumping pellet litters out there, but I don't know what availability is like. This is what I use inside one of those omega paw litterboxes:  Otherwise, you could just use wood/sawdust pellets and maybe one of those sifting litterboxes with a mesh grate at the bottom that lets powdery dust go through but not the pellets. Then you basically just remove the poop yourself, then shake to allow the dust to fall out the bottom and dump that.
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Aug 5, 2014 03:07
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Thank you all very much for the suggestions! I tried the pennies in a tin this morning, which did deter Toast from climbing the blinds, but only temporarily. I was eventually able to just flush him out from under the bed and remove him from the room, which he complained about, but not for very long. Around 8 this morning, though, he was in my room again, and batting at my face to wake me up — apparently he managed to open the door. I can only hope it was a fluke and not something he's actually figured out. The door doesn't have a lock. I think I might have to get the blackout curtains and block his access to the window at nights. Despite his morning antics, though, Toast really is a great cat. This is pretty much the only thing he does that I need to fix, otherwise he's just a lazy purring machine.  
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Aug 5, 2014 23:26
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Aleph Null posted:My wife has asthma. We are trying Yesterday's News kitty litter because it is supposed to be nearly dust-free. You may need to dump the litter a little more often when it is dirty but it is not too different. You can try scooping, urine will make the pellets turn to mushy bits which do not always scoop well, and the poop will be hanging out. That litter does not control odor particularly well so you may just want to dump the pan out often as a general rule. It's still a step up from wood pellets that can't hold anything--and with those you do have to just dump the pellets a lot. You may also like the corn or wheat-based litters. They're not dusty like clay, and they're biodegradeable. I use swheat scoop, it's flushable and it makes the litter box in the en suite easier to deal with. If your cats have an aversion to the litter you can mix in some Cat Attract / litter attractant to help them out. Texture is important to the elimination experience so a cardboard box will be seen and treated different from yesterday's news pellets.
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Aug 6, 2014 01:06
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Quick question. How alarmed should I be if my 5 year old cat lost a tooth? Because my fingers have committed war crimes I can get anywhere near his mouth, to determine which one (but it's definitely not one of two big ones) but my girlfriend found a tooth of his in our bed. I mean, poo poo happens? So it could just be that he bit on something the wrong way but is there anything terribly worrisome that may need checking out? I'll keep an eye on him, obviously, but does something like this warrant a vet trip? I feed him wet food exclusively, apart from an occasional teeny tiny crunchy treat. But maybe I'll just switch to wet things across the board? Any advice would be appreciated.
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Aug 6, 2014 02:33
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It's not like a life or death emergency, but it sounds like he's got bad periodontal disease and he needs a dental.
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Aug 6, 2014 02:37
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Chili posted:Quick question. ^^^ What that guy said. I'd be concerned it might be a periodontal disease of some sort if it just fell out instead of from an accident. Losing a tooth doesn't mean you'd have to switch to wet necessarily, but you need to check and find out why he lost the tooth first.
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Aug 6, 2014 03:59
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Cat likes to rest on my shoulder as I recline in my chair, purrs and sleeps a bit but then bites onto my cheek and jaw. I grab his head and pull him away, slap him off, even bit him back a few times but he still does it. What's up with that?
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Aug 6, 2014 09:02
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You bit your cat?
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Aug 6, 2014 09:27
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Maybe he's thinking he's back with his mum and is trying to suckle?
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Aug 6, 2014 10:13
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Today's the day Kino gets his heart ultrasound. All I wanted was to get him neutered, but like another poster, the vet noticed he has a heart murmur and needs it checked out before he can go under for surgery. This guy was a neighborhood stray and almost certainly someone's old pet. No microchip, now free of fleas and earmites and worms. He adopted me a week or so ago and I'm getting everything taken care of so he can eventually frolic alongside Dana who is an 8 year old lump of spayed cuddlemuffin:  She hisses at him a bit if he comes right up to her, but seems to ignore him otherwise. I'm hopeful. Kino's been living in the bathroom since Thursday, and will probably continue to live in there 'til all of his vet stuff is taken care of. Hope I get a phone call with good news this afternoon. I figure the best possible news is that the heart murmur is innocuous and there's no underlying disease or defect, and we can reschedule the neuter. xov fucked around with this message at 15:07 on Aug 6, 2014 |
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Aug 6, 2014 13:42
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Do cats ever learn not to put their faces in humans meals when they are trying to eat?
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Aug 6, 2014 13:47
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My cats do not give a single poo poo about human food unless I shove an almost-empty tin of tuna under their noses. They were a bit curious about our food when they were little but they seem to have grown out of it. So... yes?
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Aug 6, 2014 15:22
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Lucky. Mine like to sit on the very edge of the dining table where I can't reach them to shove them off, then they slo-o-o-wly army crawl over to the plate. Repeat 500x per meal.
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Aug 6, 2014 16:28
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Can you just use a spray bottle on them? Keep it by your glass. It's not the best technique for overall cat discipline but it will teach them not to be on the table while you are sitting at the table. e: do you ever give them people food treats? Never give them people food again.
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Aug 6, 2014 16:30
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Mine are convinced that a puff of air from your mouth is the single worst thing that can happen to a cat in this world. "PFFFF" sends them running in to the next room, even if I do it from 10 feet away and there's no way they actually felt a thing.
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Aug 6, 2014 16:32
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GoGoGadgetChris posted:Mine are convinced that a puff of air from your mouth is the single worst thing that can happen to a cat in this world. "PFFFF" sends them running in to the next room, even if I do it from 10 feet away and there's no way they actually felt a thing. Yeah mine get a "KSSST!!" Works like a charm. BUT, they are fully aware that I have to be there for the noise to happen, so they get up to bad poo poo when no ones watching (getting on tables, eating my plants). It is slightly hilarious to catch them red handed though, because they're like CHEESE IT ITS THE FUN POLICE  and flee in terror
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Aug 6, 2014 17:51
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Ouhei posted:Cat house merging advice needed: To update on this. If we have the doors open, my cat will go in, sometimes tries to go under the bed to get close to her cat but she'll hiss him away. Then he'll usually just hang out in the room for a while (sleeping on the bed or around the room, not stalking her). It's usually fairly peaceful but if she does come out (to say, use the bathroom) he always runs after her, which sends her into an immediate freak out mode where she'll scream and swat at him, most of the time that scares him off, and sends her back under the bed. Yesterday though he ran at her and they ended up biting/clawing at each other pretty good, no visible injuries but there was bits of her fur scattered in the bathroom, which makes us think he did most of the sustained attacking. If we keep the doors closed he just wanders the house like normal, not paying much attention to the door, unless he can see her moving behind it (which is rare as she seems to stay under the bed even then most of the time. Does anyone know any tips, outside of spraying him with water when he chases after her, to stop him from doing that whenever she comes out? I'm thinking it's more of a rush to try and play with her (rather than attacking) since 4 of the 5 times it's happened he runs off once he catches a good swatting, but I could be wrong. We don't want to have to keep her closed off forever, but if she keeps getting attacked when she comes out, she's just never going to come out, which would be a shame because she's a sweet cat that loves getting attention.
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Aug 6, 2014 19:09
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Cat Army
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GoGoGadgetChris posted:Lucky. Mine like to sit on the very edge of the dining table where I can't reach them to shove them off, then they slo-o-o-wly army crawl over to the plate. Repeat 500x per meal. Our kitten gets locked in the bedroom when it's dinner time, or at least she did. Now we're trying to teach her just to leave us alone while we eat. It's not working. She'll sit on the table in front of us, staring at the bowl/plate, then do a similar crawl, onto our laps and up our arms until her head is level with whatever we're holding. She also swats at forks.
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Aug 6, 2014 19:41
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Angrymog posted:Maybe he's thinking he's back with his mum and is trying to suckle? Nah, when he wants to suckle he starts kneeding around my clavicle with his paws and starts suckling. What he'll do is rub his face, cheeks and chin on me and then bites on to me, still purring and poo poo like it's no thing.
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Aug 7, 2014 00:17
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MariusLecter posted:Nah, when he wants to suckle he starts kneeding around my clavicle with his paws and starts suckling. What he'll do is rub his face, cheeks and chin on me and then bites on to me, still purring and poo poo like it's no thing. Toast does this, too; he'll rub up on my face while purring, then just clamp down on my nose. It's done out of affection, and I don't think he realizes it hurts. Maybe make a pained noise and leave the room? He'll learn to be more gentle if he gets the message that it hurts.
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Aug 7, 2014 01:49
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aghastly posted:Toast does this, too; he'll rub up on my face while purring, then just clamp down on my nose. It's done out of affection, and I don't think he realizes it hurts. Maybe make a pained noise and leave the room? He'll learn to be more gentle if he gets the message that it hurts. Tali does that too, but only to my bf. She loves his beard, too. I know it hurts him but it's hilarious to watch.
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Aug 7, 2014 02:18
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I've got 4 cats. Occasionally, rarely, one of them will heave. I can scoop poo poo out of the boxes no problem, I can pick up my dog's poo poo with my hand (through a bag) no problem, when two of the current cats were 3 week old kittens who were abandoned I tenderly massaged poo poo out of their butts no problem. There is just something about puke that makes me puke. The cat puke is rare, and is not a concern in itself, they get taken to the vet after each instance and are all healthy. The problem is with me. The puke is never smelly or objectively gross. At its best it just looks like soggy cat food, at its worst its just a little foamy. I think the problem is that when I see the puke I compulsively imagine the feeling of puking, then imagine the cat puke being in my mouth. Does this happen to anyone else? Any advice?
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Aug 7, 2014 04:36
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ilysespieces posted:Tali does that too, but only to my bf. She loves his beard, too. I know it hurts him but it's hilarious to watch.
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Aug 7, 2014 12:34
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Barnyard Protein posted:I've got 4 cats. Occasionally, rarely, one of them will heave. I can scoop poo poo out of the boxes no problem, I can pick up my dog's poo poo with my hand (through a bag) no problem, when two of the current cats were 3 week old kittens who were abandoned I tenderly massaged poo poo out of their butts no problem. Exposure therapy. Get a poncho and some cat puke and handle it in the bathroom until you can deal with it.
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Aug 7, 2014 15:28
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Angrymog posted:Our previous cat used to groom my dad's mustache. We could never work out if it was because she thought he was a giant kitten, or because she was after the beer froth. Every time she does it I tell him "She thinks you're her kitty mommy" and he gives me a look but I know he secretly loves it. Currently she's taken to meowing outside our bedroom door the ~hour before we wake up/the alarm goes off. He's been sleeping through it and I've been ignoring it, once the alarm goes off I give it a few minutes and then open the door to let her in. It's mildly annoying but her little meows are adorable and she gets so excited to see her food providers.
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Aug 7, 2014 19:31
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So since this thread was helpful before (she's steadily taking more naps on me and getting more comfortable), I have a newer, more serious problem with my female kitten Rubella: She's never had issues with her litter, her litter box, her food, or with our apartment at all. All of a sudden after a few minutes of us coming home from a friend's house on Saturday, August 2nd, she took to leaving a nice puddle of diarrhea in a corner of our living room by a couple of bags of old clothes. She was fine otherwise, so we figured it was a new flavor of the wet IAMS food she's eaten up to this point. We threw the rest of the can out and just left her the dry IAMS food that she's tranisitioned to while keeping an eye on her. The next day, my fiancee called me at work and said she poo poo in the bathroom. Diarrhea again. When coming home from work and playing with her a little bit (like I usually do), she went behind our entertainment center and left a couple more nice puddles of poo poo. At this point, I knew something was wrong and called the vet first thing in the morning. Her tempature was "on the high end of normal" according to the vet (102.9, I think? I forget the exact number), and $77 later, I got two small bottles of medicine for her: One with yellow liquid for "de-worming" her and one with white liquid that is supossed to act as an antibiotic. I also went to PetSmart and got Nature's Miracle cleaner and Wellness Core dry food, which I'm currently slowly transitioning to her in case it's the crappy IAMS food giving her digestive problems. I have to give both of these to her orally with a plastic tube that takes the medicine out of the bottle and is then "squeezed" into her mouth. Think of a thin syringe without the needle at the end. 1 mL of the yellow de-wormer the first day then .5 mL for the next 6 days and .25 mL of the antibiotic for 5 days in a row were the vet's orders. Poor Ruby wasn't totally cooperative and doesn't dig the taste of either one, but she begrudgingly finishes the tubes a little at a time. My fiancee noticed her anus is a bit inflammed a couple of days ago and she scooted across our carpet the first couple days this whole thing started happening, but I haven't noticed her do it in the past couple of days. There doesn't seem to be any worms in her poop at this point (my fiancee says she noticed a little bit in her poop a few days ago; I never saw them), but the diarrhea persists. She keeps making GBS threads in a corner of the house somewhere unless I proactively keep re-acquaiting her with her litter box, which she will eventually go in after I keep gently putting her there and giving her a treat afterwards. I'm assuming her still having diarrhea is a cause for concern. She's perfectly fine otherwise; no behavioral changes. I just want her to go back to using her litter box like she did before. Thoughts? I'm afraid it being something serious the medicine isn't helping.
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Aug 8, 2014 00:15
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Only a vet will know for sure. You can try feeding her some canned pumpkin (straight pumpkin, not pie filling!) to help with her poops. But if it persists much longer take her to the vet.
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Aug 8, 2014 03:18
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Even with meds diarrhea can take several days to clear. As a side note, you Brits need to work on your cat ownership education  http://veterinaryrecord.bmj.com/content/174/5/118.abstract
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Aug 8, 2014 04:35
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You may also ask about a probiotic. Two weeks of that did wonders for our cat's stools after she had a round of diarrhea & antibiotics.
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Aug 8, 2014 04:43
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So, we've run into an "issue" with our new kitten and I'm wondering if anyone has had any experience similar: Grumps: - Age: 3 months - Sex: Male - How long have you had your cat? About 2 months - Is your cat spayed or neutered? Yup. - What food do you use? A mixture of specialty kitten food the no-kill gave me in a big ziploc. - Is your cat indoors, outdoors, both? All indoors, all the time. - How many pets in your household? 2 (Grumps-Kitten and Blimp-6~7 year male, black rescue) - How many litter boxes do you have? Two that are changed twice a day. So, I've posted in the thread about how our new kitten, Grumps, is a really, really rough player. Grumps will chase our older cat around and bite the ever-living poo poo out of him. The older cat is a big ol' baby and won't fight back so it leads to some yowling. Now, I know he's only a 3 month old kitten and hopefully these behaviors change but I'm wonder about the effect of leaving him alone, with mimimal human contact, with the older cat for a week might have had on him. The Story: We fostered the Grumps for two weeks right before we went on vacation (he was an emergency "please do this for us" from the no-kill type situation). We introduced him to our older cat slowly and when we left they we getting along ok, the kitten seemed to be playing a little to hard but it was easy for our older cat to dissuade him by light swatting. When we left we hired a pet service and had a friend come on alternating days to feed the cats/change litter/play with them for an hour and a half. Everyday, the cats we getting at least an hour and half dedicated people/play time. Not ideal, but we though it was the best solution. We came to find out the pet service never came and our friend wasn't aware so he was only coming every other day to interact with the cats. Luckily, they were healthy, fine, and well fed when we arrived home. But Grumps, the kitten, had gotten way more aggressive and starting biting our hands (a habit he's almost stopped thanks to the "no love/ignore" technique) and he chases and bites the old cat harder and non-stop. The older cat isn't losing weight, or hair, or anything but is far jumpier than ever and can't sleep for more than an hour without a Grumpattack. So, my questions are these: 1.) Would leaving them alone together for that long without human interaction cause this aggression? 2.) Should we try reintroducing? They're both neutered so they've not been spraying or anything and the older cat/kitten coexist fine when the kitten isn't attacking. 3.) Would isolating the kitten in a bathroom alone when he attacked the older cat curb this behavior at all? Suggestions 4.) Am I being a crazy person and is this how male kittens act? We had another kitten about a year ago and she was the sweetest, nicest kitten ever but she threw a blood clot and died (which was awful to witness firsthand). But she was a female and was chill, are boy cats insane rear end in a top hat? I'd really appreciate any help at all. Thanks!
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Aug 8, 2014 15:37
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MonsterWalk posted:she was a female and was chill, are boy cats insane rear end in a top hat? Your 6-7 year old cat and 3 month old kitten have drastically different levels of energy, socialization, and desire to play. This imbalance creates conflict. The little one is being antagonistic in an effort to engage. Grumps is learning how to interact with his world. Blimp probably doesn't appreciate it. Normally a kitten would have had littermates to learn rough play with in their first few months, but Grumps doesn't have that and was separated during the socialization period. He doesn't know how to play without being an annoying rear end in a top hat to your other cat. And he may not easily learn an appropriate way to engage without other kittens around (at least it's a little harder). Did your friend possibly play with Grumps with his hands? It's hard to tell what can happen when someone pet-sits, but if there was a lot of hand play involved it could have the kitten itching to play that way again. Lots of people play with kittens this way without realizing it can bring on very aggressive behavior. The cats were also left alone for weeks during the key socialization window for Grumps. Some cats play by chasing/pouncing (and this is probably more common for males). Some cats hate cats that do that. My younger adult cat is a chasing fiend and she pisses off the bigger older male with her antics. If Blimp is acting at all prey-like it will be extra enticing for Grumps to pursue. Doing a separation and re-introduction could help. Putting kitten in the bathroom for bad behavior would mostly confuse your kitten. If you see the kitten being aggressive, re-direct their energy to play time with you and a toy.
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Aug 8, 2014 16:22
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Day 13 of girlfriend's two cats meeting my two cats: We took the big glass pane off our coffee table and put it in the bedroom doorway, so our kitties could see each other without being able to touch or sniff too much. It was hilarious - They were so much calmer than when doing nose sniffs through a cracked doorway. But then of course one of mine forgot about the glass and charged headfirst into it when trying to eat the other kitties' treats. BROONNGGGGGG
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Aug 8, 2014 17:23
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GoGoGadgetChris posted:Day 13 of girlfriend's two cats meeting my two cats: We have glass doors on our TV stand and left it open before letting the kitten out of the bedroom to explore for the first time, there was a charging cord or something sticking out. We had people over and figured we'd let Tali explore a bit and introduce herself to the new people in her castle at her own pace. She got a running start from the kitchen and slammed face first into the glass door of the TV stand. And then walked it off while also socializing, she really thinks she's the queen. It was awful and I was worried but it was also kind of hilarious. We have since shut the glass doors.
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Aug 8, 2014 19:39
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Sorry if this has been asked already, 400 pages is too much to sift through right now. My roommate has a 15+ year old cat, who has lived in this house with him for the last five years or so. Last night, a kitten (I'd guess around six months old) wandered to our door. My girlfriend fell in love instantly, and I gave it some food and water. Her and I both worked today, but when I got home, the kitten was back. I brought him inside, and he's exploring my room with the door closed, but I'm wondering the best way to integrate the two cats. The older female hissed when the kitten came around last night, and my roommate is worried they won't get along. Pics for the cute factor: http://imgur.com/a/7LII0 Captain Trips fucked around with this message at 20:22 on Aug 8, 2014 |
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Aug 8, 2014 19:57
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Captain Trips posted:Sorry if this has been asked already, 400 pages is too much to sift through right now. It takes a few weeks for cats to get used to each other. They're naturally going to hiss at a stranger who is infringing their turf. Good advice here on acclimating cats to each other.
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Aug 8, 2014 20:33
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Captain Trips posted:Sorry if this has been asked already, 400 pages is too much to sift through right now.
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Aug 8, 2014 20:33
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Mr. Wookums posted:Vet first We're taking him this weekend, going to figure out shots and such. He's not neutered, so that's definitely on the list.
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Aug 8, 2014 20:45
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